Aviation investment firm Indigo Partners has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a total of 50 Airbus A321XLR at Paris Air Show 2019 on Wednesday.
The MoU includes a new order for 32 A321XLR, as well as a conversion of 18 existing A320neo family orders to the newly aircraft type. 20 will go to Hungarian WizzAir, 18 to US-American Frontier Airlines and 12 to South American JetSmart.
When asked by International Flight Network, Bill Franke, Co-Founder of Indigo Partners, confirmed that the company’s Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris will not receive the aircraft type due to performance limitations at higher altitude airports (like Volaris hub Mexico City).
No specific routes have been announced by the three airlines. However, Frontier Airlines President Barry Biffle mentioned the opportunity of longer distance flights to Hawaii.
Airbus officially launched the A321XLR programme on Monday during a press conference at the airshow. The aircraft is an extended range variant of the existing A321neo.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
